Ball



Dec- 16, 1941- P. B LANCHFIELD Erm. 2,266,390

BALL

Filed Nov. 12, 1940 iliillllllllll tt Il l,

INVENTORS i PauZEZa Patented Dec. 16, 1941 UNITED STATES PATENT oFElcE BALL Paul E. Blanchneid and Raphael A.. Stafford, Chicopee, Mass., assignors to A. G. Spalding & Bros. Inc., Chicopee, Mass., a corporation of Delaware Application November 12, 1940, Serial No. 365,228

15 Claims.

To prevent an obiectionably large number of home runs, some attempts have been made recently to provide a satisfactory short, dead or sluggish" ball. These attempts have included vention of which we are amongthe inventors; said invention is described in an application nled by John B. Dickson, Raphael A. Staiord and Paul E. Blanchfield, Serial No. 350,378, nled August 3, 1940. The present invention generally discloses another type of sluggish baseball or the like and a method of making th'e same.

Present-day baseballs have evolved over a considerable period of time and those used by baseball leagues, such as National, American and International, are closely standardized for size and weight by denite and well-established rules. Moreover, great care has been exercised to provide a ball having suitable resistance to deformation, to provide sunicient softness in the ,ball to prevent injury to the hands in catching the ball, and to provide other desirable qualities.

One standard baseball which has come into extensive use consists primarily of a leather cover superposed upon a center, including divers yarn windings about a main core consistingof an outer core concentrically lenclosing a cork sph'ere or inner core of an inch in diameter, the hollow spherical outer core being approximately 11% inches in diameter and/or 4% inches in circumference.

'I'his invention relates particularly to the yarn windings for play balls. In such products there is ordinarily provided: an inner wool yarn winding sometimes known as a chunk; an intermediate wool winding; an outer wool yarn winding; the above-mentioned inner, intermediate and outer winding-s constituting the resilient winding; and a protective winding of cotton string of considerably smaller thickness interposed between the so-called outer winding and a cover.

Because of the development of the skill of baseball players in recent years th'ere have been an objectionably large number of heavy hitters having the ability to hit a baseball so far as to assure a home run, or at least far enough to decrease the likelihood of catching a ny. The batting averages have been increased by this decreased likelihood of a long hit being caught. The spectators interest in baseball has lessened because of the increased number of home runs and the higher batting averages which have been attained.

the provision-of: looser or softer windings of yarn; thicker cords in the seams between the cover parts to absorb some of th'e blow from the bat;

and bulkier cords in the seams between the cover parts to increase the wind-resistancev and to thereby cut down the night.

While softer or looser windings of yarn did result in more sluggish baseballs, such balls were impractical because they were adversely deformed very easily. Thicker or bulkier cords for the seams did not decrease the night of balls sufciently to produce the desired result of making the game more interesting to the spectators by reducing the number of home runs and decreasing the batting averages of the players.

Heretofore there have been divers proposals for impregnating windings such as the protective winding with very resilient materials such as rubber latex, but such proposals have never beenvof commercial importance and such proposals have provided balls having a considerably increased night attribut-able perhaps to the latex impregnation.

Further, it h'as'been thought impracticable to impregnate the resilient winding because it has been thought that the impregnation would prevent the ball from complying with the narrow weight limitations relating to baseballs. With the present invention no major or adverse weight increase is built into the ball.

In the past it has been thought that only wool yarn was satisfactory for the resilient winding of a baseball. Numerous attempts have been made to substitute cheaper materials and some effort has been made to provide a materialhaving better properties. However, no substitute for wool has been developed, and it is still the material which is ordinarily used in the resilient winding of a baseball. With the present invention it has been found possible to use other than all-wool yarns.

In making the tests to determine the reactance to hitting of the different balls, a hitting machine driven by falling weights was used. This machine propelled a standard or league baseball 'after making allowances for such variables as aforementioned invention in application Serial No. 350,378, so far as applicants are aware, there have been no short balls or those flying less than the standard ,distance for a standard blow except certain'balls having undesirable properties of lack of balance, tendency to be easily deformed and other objectionable qualities.

As used in this specification, the speed with which the resilient winding restores itself to normal shape after being deformed by an impact, such as developed by a bat hitting a baseball is called restoration speed.

As used in this specication "resiliency of a material refers to its tendency to move in counteraction to a force. For small forces such as dropping an object from a height of 100 inches, or hitting it with a projectile moving at the rate of 23 feet per second, the term rebound is used. For large forces such as dropping an object 625 feet or hitting it with a projectile moving at the rate of 200 feet per second the term reactance is used, as are the terms long and short Durability refers to the quality of resisting deformation or misshapeliness under continued whacking or frequent impact, and not to oxidation resistance or the like. Heretofore it has been thought that low resiliency of rubbery materials was necessarily accompanied by a small degree of durability.

It is an important object of the present invention to provide a process for manufacturing a baseball having a shorter flight than a conventional league baseball.

Another important object is to provide a baseball conventional. in substantially all respects excepting that said baseball possesses a shorter ight than ordinary league balls.

Still another objectof the present invention is to provide resilient fibrous masses having less resiliency than ordinary brous masses.

It is a further object to provide a process by means of which a completedl yarn winding of a semimanufactured baseball can be simply and inexpensively impregnated with a macromolecular organic material.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a sluggish baseball having an unusually great resistance to misshapeliness and having the property of withstanding use for a longer period of time than conventional baseballs.

Other objects of the present invention are:

To .provide a method of controlling the sluggishness of a baseball so that as the ability of baseball players improves and other conditions require it baseballs of suitably sluggish properties or having a suitably shorter flight can be manufactured.

To provide a means of controlling the resiliency of fibrous masses in such a manner as to assure a slower rate of restoration than fibrous masses ordinarily have.

To provide a baseball making use of a small quantity of costly yarn.

To make possible the use of yarn other than al1-wool yarn in the resilient winding of a basebau.'

A most important feature of the present invention is the provision of a .process of impregnating components of resilient windings of baseballs Other features of the present invention lnclude:

The provision of. fibrous masses impregnated with macromolecular organic materials having a small amount of resiliency.

The provision of durable resilient materials having low reactance and rebound as materials for the inner and outer cores with specially impregnated resilient windings.

The use of large diameter cores in a baseball with specially impregnated resilient 'windings The use of numerous other features apparent from a consideration of the specification.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a plan view of a complete baseball.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken along line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged view of a section of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic representation of apparatus in which yarn and/or a completed yarn winding may be impregnated.

Before describing the present improvements and mode of operation thereof in detail it should be understood that the invention is not limited with macromolecular organic materials for the to the details of construction and arrangement of parts shown in the accompanying drawing, or to the details of the formulae herein described, which are merely illustrative o f the present preferred embodiments, and the phraseology em-v ployed is for the purpose of description and not of limitation.

Referring now in detail to the drawing, which shows the present preferred embodiments of the invention embodied in a baseball, it will be seen that an inner core I0 is 'positioned within an outer core II, the two members combining to constitute a core I2. A chunk I3 or inner winding is Wound about the core I2. superposed about the chunk I3 is an intermediate winding I4 about which is an outer winding I5. The windings I3, I4 and I5 constitute a resilient winding I6 discussed in detail hereinafter. About the resilient winding I6 is superposed a protective winding I1 usually of cotton string.

The core I2, resilient winding I6 and protective winding Il constitute a ball center I8. A leather cover I9 is superposed upon the ball center I8 to form a completed baseball 28.

Of particular importance, the present invention includes the provision of an especially impregnated brous material, such as yarn, said especially impregnated material serving to retard the night of a ball. The chunk I3, for example, may contain a partial impregnation 13a. In Fig. 4 is shown apparatus for impregnating yarn with a deadening material, for example, with organic macromolecular materials such as hereinafter described. A strand of yarn 2| may be passed into a deadening solution 22 beneath a rod 23, and out of the solution 22, which is contained in a vat 24. It is desirable that the impregnated yarn 25 be quickly and thoroughly dried. For this purpose a conventional drying oven 26 may be provided. The impregnated yarn 25 passes through the drying oven 26. After the impregnated yarn 25 has been dried it may be reeled up upon a spool 2l for future use. 'I'he deadening material preferably has the characteristic of retarding the reactance springiness of the yarn, Without making the same rigid or stony. Accordingly, such materials as Celluloid are outside the scope of the present invention.

Instead of impregnating the strand of yarn separately it is preferable to partially impregnate a semimanufactured baseball. As shown in Fis.

Vistanex 8.5

tured baseball 3|!` may be quickly and thoroughly dried in any suitable and conventional manner, as for example, by placing it in the drying oven 26.

The deadening solution 22 for impregnating the fibrous material, such as certain of the individual strands of yarns, or preferably the windings of yarn upon the semimanufactured balls, comprises a suitable deadening material and a suitable sol-l vent. Below are listed some of the formulae provided for this purpose by the present invention:

Percentage deaden- Percentage solvent by Ethylene dchlorlde 91.5 Petroleum naphtha 91.5

vIt has been found that when a portion of the resilient winding I6 is impregnated with a deadening agent', such as, for example, an irganic macromolecular material, the night of the baseball 20 made with such a winding is substantially less than that of an ordinary league baseball. For example, it has been found that when the chunk I3 of an ordinary semimanufactured and regular league baseball is partially impregnated with cellulose acetate,` as by dipping a chunk I3 (formed about a core I2) into the above cellulose acetatesolution, then dried and completed in the usual manner; the night of the baseball is reduced approximately 5 feet. It should be particularly noted that the sluggish baseball is like a regular" league baseball in every respect as to the size and composition of each component, excepting for the impregnation of the chunk, which impregnation produces 5 feet of reduction in night. An impregnation of Tenite II, a special kind of cellulose butyrate, reduces the night of a corresponding baseball 6 feet. It has also been found that when Lucite, a methylmethacrylate resin, is used as the impregnating and deadening material the night of the corresponding baseball It should be particularly noted that, according to the present invention, at least some cotton, rayon or part-wool yarns may be used insteadvof using only all-wool yarns as is customary in the manufacture'of a baseball. When the yarn or semi-manufactured baseball is impregnated wtih organic macromolecular material such as Vistanex, Lucite or Tenite, it is not necessary to use all-wool yarn. Because of the high price of wool and the relatively low price of cotton, rayonand other nonwool materials this feature makes it possible to produce an impregnated ball' even more inexpensively than a ball having an all-wool resilient winding.

According to the present invention it is not necessary to penetrate the entire thickness of a winding in irnpregnatlng it, and it is only necessary to obtain a penetration constituting approximately one-half of the thickness of the winding to satisfactorily or appreciably reduce the night of the corresponding baseball as compared with a nonimpregnated baseball. Such an impregnation can easily be produced by dipping for approximately one minute in a deadening solution such as described hereinabove. When the intermediate winding, Il is dipped, the chunk I3 will also be partially impregnated unless the dipping is accurately controlled.

Similarly, it has been found that when at least a portion of the resilient winding I6 is made of impregnated yam 2 5, complete penetration of the deadening material is not necessary and that a partially impregnated yarn is very satisfactory for use in accordance with the principles of thisv invention. Ordinarily the greatest economies can be effected in the manufacturing process by V impregnating .the semimanufactured ball 28 inis reduced 7 feet. When Thiokote is used as imthe corresponding baseball is reduced approxi- .mately 3 feet. Especially good results were obtained when the deadening solution contained Vistanex, an isobutylene polymer, as the impregnating compound. When the chunk I3 was partially impregnated with Vistanex, the night of the baseball 20 was reduced 10 feet.

The comparative reductions in night mentioned in the preceding paragraph were obtained by using a baseball 20 identical with a league baseball, excepting for the impregnation I3a of the chunk I3. However, it has been found that when the impregnation is effected at a point closer to the cover I9 of the ball 20 a greater reduction in night is accomplished. For example, it was found that when the intermediate winding I4 was impregnated with Vistanex the reduction in night was approximately 12 feet, and that when the outer winding I5 was impregnated with Vistanex the reduction in night was from 12 to 15 feet.

stead of impregnating the yarn 2| because when `separately impregnated yarn 25 is used, it is sometimes necessary to adjust the winding malchines and to alter the number of turns for each of the windings, to change the tension of winding, and to modify other factors innuencing the winding. Whenever the resilient winding I6 inlcludes separately impregnated yarn 25 or at least one impregnated winding I3, I4 or I5 (yarn impregnated-after winding on the ball), the nnal resilient winding IB isreferred to as a sluggish winding.

Now, of 'particular' importance, it has been found that the effect of providing a sluggish core I2 and the effect of providing a sluggish winding I6 is at least cumulative and under certain conditions,- more than cumulative. Accordingly, it is possible to provide a sluggish core I2 such as described in a copending application (of John B. Dickson, Raphael A. Stafford and Paul E. Blanchneld) Serial No. 350,378, nled August 3,

1940', with a sluggish winding, as described here inbefore, and to thereby have a ball of greatly retarded night, and to shorten the night of the ball a much greater extent than is possible with either the sluggish core or the sluggish winding alone.

The present invention contemplates including the provision of specially impregnated nbrous material, such as yarn, upon any of the sluggish cores set forth in detail in said application Serial No. 350,378. y

The copending application describes the use of inner cores of: cork, for most of the experiments; compressed gas, which was found to provide a more sluggish baseball than cork inner cores; kapok, which was found to be superior to cork for a sluggish inner core; Vistanex, which was found to be especially eilective as a sluggish inner core; conventional diameter of of an inch; and larger diameter, as for example cores 1% inches in diameter, and 1% inches in diameter for the compressed gas inner core.

'Ihe copending application describes the use of: outer cores of rubber having a larger diameter than normal, resulting in a longer ight of the ball; outer cores of rubber smaller than conventional, resulting in a longer flight of the ball; outer cores of low resilient material resulting in shorter flights of the ball; outer cores of low resilient material of enlarged diameter, resulting in a considerably reduced flight,y it being established that increasing the diameter of the core up to two inches resulted in further reductions in the flight of the baseball outer cores of low rebound materials such as described hereinafter.

'I'he copending application describes low rebound compositions such as those indicated by the following formulae:

Polyisobutylene 18 51 41 29 Polyxylene 53 -48 46 l39 Polyalkenesulde 45 16 Rubber 4 11 13 28 2220 31 26 Fillers and curing agents 33 28 46 27 25 32 23 35 The copending application also describes the use of a Koroseal outer core, Koroseal being a polyvinylchloride material containing a large quantity of plasticizer.

Said copending application describes sluggish baseballs having a shortness in ight of from 2 to 35 feet. According to the present invention, the control of the sluggishness is effected not merely by the core size and composition, but also by the impregnation of the resilient winding. By this method it is possible to produce a baseball considerably shorter in flight than those balls described in detail in said copending application; For example, if a ball 35 feet short were provided with an impregnated outer winding, it would be approximately 50 feet short, or approximately short.

It has been found that the impregnated yarn, either in the form of a strand of yarn, or in the form of a semi-manufactured baseball, may be dried in the air or in an oven. T he drying rate aiects the nature of gelation of the deadening agent. The drying rate sometimes iniluences the flight. of the baseball and the durability thereof is somewhat aiected thereby. Best results are obtained by rapidly drying the impregnated yarn in a drying oven. Moreover, the oven method speeds up the manufacturing process.

In one form the process for making ball components includes the steps of making a core; treating a yarn with a deadening material; and winding yarn on the core. This process may also' be augmented with the step of forming a cover on the component.

In another form the process provided by the present invention includes the steps of forming a sluggish core; forming one or more windings on the core; applying deadening material to one or more of said windings; and forming a cover on the windings.

A further and at present preferred process 1ncludes steps of making a core; forming one or more windings of yarn on the core; impregnating one or more of said windings with a deadening material; and forming a cover on said winding.

Although not preferred, any of the plurality of windings i3, Il and/or l5 may be replaced by a single winding. or may be replaced by a shell of compressed iibrous material such as kapok, and may be impregnated with deadening materials in the manner hereinbefore set forth inA connection with the divers windings.

Obviously the fibrous material could be coated by precipitation from a suspension, or adhesion from molten mass, or other methods instead of adsorption from a solution.

Although it is not certain, it is believed that the explanation of the reduction in flight attributable to the sluggish winding is due to the .fact

that the restoration speed of the sluggish wind-V ing is less than the restoration speed of an unim-v pregnated winding. The restoration speed of a latex impregnated winding, being greater thanthe unimpregnated winding, excludes such materials from the scope of the present invention. Other highly resilient materials such as polybutadiene, polychloroprene, gelatinized glue chromate, etc., are also meant to be excluded. 'Substantially all other organic macromolecular materials, sometimes hereinafter designated as nonresilient organic macromolecular materials. are believed tobe Veiective impregnated agents, although of course certain ones would not be used because of their cost, odor, instability, low solubility, etc. Other materials than macromolecular organic materials, such as tar or waterglass, would also function as deadening agents, according to the present invention. i

Other variations and modifications may be made within the scope of this invention and portions of the improvements may be used without others.

Having thus described the invention what is claimed as new is:

1. A play ball including a resilient member of brous material, said brous material containing in atleast certain portions a. deposit of deadening material adapted to reduce the reactance of said resilient member.

2. In a play ball the combination of a core; a fibrous member superposed about said core; a deposit of deadening material in at least certain portions of said brous member, said deadening material being adapted to impart a reduced reactance to said fibrous member; and a cover on said ball.

3. In a play ball the combination of a sluggish core; a iibrous member superposed about said core; a deposit of deadening material in at least certain portions of said fibrous membenj said deadening material being adapted to impart a reduced reactance to said fibrous member; and a cover on said ball.

4. A resilient member in a resilient article adapted to possess a slow restoration speed, lowI 6. A play ball including a core; a cover; and

interposed between the core and cover a member oi reduced reactance, said member consisting of brous material at least partially` impregnated withdeadening material chosen from the class consisting of polyisobutylene, polymethylmethacrylate, cellulose acetate', polyalkenesulflde and polyvinylchldride.

7. In a play ball the combination oi a core; a cover; and interposed between the core and cover at least' one yarn windingv with at least one oi' said yarn windings being at least partially impregnated with deadening material adapted to impart to said yarn winding a reduced reactance.

8. A play ball including a member of reduced reactance, said member consisting at least partially of cellulosic material at least partially impregnated with polyisobutylene.

9. A play ball comprising a member of reduced reactance, said member consisting at least partialJy of cellulosic material at least partially impregnated with deadening material.

10. A sluggish baseball including a,siuggish inner core; a sluggish outer core; at least one winding on said outer core; a deadening material deposit in at least some portion of at least one oi said windings; and a cover.

11. In a play ball the combination' of a cover,

a iibrous member at least partially impregnated with a deadening agent; and an outer core `con sisting of rubber, suitable iillers and curing agents, and a; modifying agent of rubber soluble synthetic organic macromolecular material oi relatively small resiliency with respect to rubber.

12. In a play ball the combination oi an inner core having a diameter greater than %,o! an inch, said inner core consisting of a-material of small resiliency; an outer core having a diameter greater than 11% inches, said outer core consist'- ing oi a composition of small resiliency; a fibrous member superposed about said outer core, said fibrous member being at least partially impregnated with a deadening agent.

1'3. A play ball including an outer core consisting of suitable curing agents, fillers, rubber and at least 25% modifying agent chosen from the class consisting oi polyisobutylene, polyalkenesulilde, polyxylene and polyvinylchloride; a ilbrous member superposed about said outer core; a deposit of deadening agent in at least some portions oi said fibrous member, said deadening agent being chosen from the class con'- sisting of polyisobutylene. polymethylmethacrylate, polyalkenesuliide. polyvinylchloride and cellulose acetate; and a cover. 14. In a play ball the combination of a cover; a core; yarn windings between the cover and the core; and a deposit oi deadening material on at least certain sections oi said yarn windings.

15. In a play ball the combination oi a cover; a core; a iibrous member between the cover and the core; and a deposit of deadening material y on at least certain sections of said iibrous member.

PAUL E. BLANCHIIlIIlii'iZlD.l RAPHAEL A. STAFFORD. 

